1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automated sensing systems, and particularly to a multiphase flow detector for installation in a pipeline carrying oil and/or other fluids therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the petroleum industry, pipes and other conduits often carry fluids of various types, both liquid and gas. For example, a pipeline may carry crude oil mixed with water and air or other gas from a wellhead to a refinery or transport site. These different fluids are termed “phases” in the petroleum industry. Oil and water are considered as two different phases, even though they are both liquids, and gas is a third phase of matter that may be carried through a pipeline.
Knowledge of the specific ratios or quantities of the various phases of fluids passing through the pipeline is useful for various reasons. The economic value of crude oil, as opposed to latent water that has issued from the wellhead, is obvious. In addition, there is generally at least some dissolved gas under pressure or in pockets in the subsurface oil deposit, and this gas becomes mixed with the crude oil as it issues from the wellhead and passes into and through the pipeline. While the gas may have some commercial value, its presence can distort measurements of the quantity of oil passing through the pipeline.
Thus, a multiphase flow detector solving the aforementioned problems is desired.